Their many opponents on Russia’s political spectrum, self-described “patriotic nationalists,” have insisted that the country must look instead to its own historical traditions for its future development and,still more, that American democracy was not a system to be so uncritically emulated. Not infrequently, they characterize Russia’s democrats as “fifth columnists” whose primary loyalties are to the West, not their own country. Understandably, it is a highly fraught political debate and both sides have supporters in high places, from the Kremlin and other government offices to military and security agencies, as well as devout media outlets.

Russian democrats argue that their country’s elections are manipulated and unfair, including, but not only, those that put and kept Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.“Patriotic nationalists” now reply that Russiagate rests on the allegation, widely reported and believed in the United States, that an American presidential election was successfully manipulated on behalf of the desired candidate and that the entire US electoral system may be vulnerable to manipulation.

By now, Americans may not be shocked by such a repudiation by the Times of its own professed mission and standards, but for Russian journalists, who have long looked to the paper as a model, the reaction was likely profound disillusionment.

Comment: The US political class loves convicted felon George Soros, turned the US over to him and made US citizens his slaves decades ago. He’s treated as royalty in Europe. Russian people are different–they’re not Soros’ slaves. Their president, Putin, won’t let Soros continue to bleed Russia and its people to death as he did in the 1990s when Russia was newly independent and at its weakest. I appreciate Putin mentioning that Soros continues to have free rein in the US taxpayer funded State Dept., that US refuses to question any of Soros’ aggressions around the world. I looked into this and found that to this day criminally insane Soros gets to have his choice of US State Dept. personnel in foreign countries in which he has particular interest.